Alex de Minaur set for top-16 seeding at Wimbledon after Queen’s Club run

It took the best player in the world to stop Alex de Minaur at the Queen’s Club and he’s put a big Wimbledon showing on his next agenda.

A buoyant Alex de Minaur will head to Wimbledon as Australia’s leading male hope and adamant he can beat anyone on grass after a Queen‘s Club charge that ended with defeat in the final to incoming world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz.

With last year’s finalist Nick Kyrgios under a serious injury cloud, and having played just one match since last October, de Minaur booked a top-16 seeding at Wimbledon despite the 6-4 6-4 loss to Alcaraz in Sunday‘s final.

The grass surface is a comfortable one for de Minaur who said he would be straight into Wimbledon preparation on Monday to keep the momentum going from his run at the Queens’s Club

“Overall, a great week, feeling confident, now on to Wimby,” he said after the loss.

“The positive for the week for me has been my mentality, my mindset, how calm I have been on the court and how I have backed myself at every stage. When I’m in that kind of mindset and attitude, I can beat anyone.

Alex de Minaur is ready for Wimbledon. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

“Even if things don‘t go my way, I’m content because I know I left it all out there and I try to play the way that I want to play. That’s a big positive for me coming into Wimbledon.

“Any time I step out on a grass court, I‘m very confident. It’s a part of the year I really enjoy. I think it suits my game really well. I can find a lot of my opponents’ weaknesses and exploit them.”

His positive run has put de Minaur, theoretically at least, in a better position to progress to the second round at Wimbledon given his seeding.

“In theory, you might get a little bit more protected with your seeding, but you can play anyone first round and it‘s no secret,” said de Minaur, who was 15th seed in 2021 but still got beaten in the first round after being drawn with the unseeded Sebastian Korda.

“There‘s a lot of very dangerous players that are unseeded, and that can be very tricky,” de Minaur said.

“But a top-16 seeding is a good spot to be in. Hopefully, I can have a good Wimbledon and reach a career high, but I‘m taking it very, very slowly.”

De Minaur lost to Carlos Alcaraz in two hard-fought sets. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images

The Australian opted out of this week’s Eastbourne event but will travel to the south-coast seaside venue for pre-Wimbledon practice and to also spend some time with his girlfriend, British No.1 Katie Boulter.

“I’ll be taking a couple of days off, for starters, and then probably start hitting back on maybe Wednesday,” he said.

“It’s time to kind of rest the mind, enjoy myself, maybe play a little bit of golf and get ready for hopefully a good run at Wimbledon.”

Originally published as Alex de Minaur set for top-16 seeding at Wimbledon after Queen’s Club run